A HONEYMOON IN SPACE
by
GEORGE GRIFFITH
Author of "Valdar the Oft-Born," "The Virgin of the Sun," "The Rose of Judah," &c., &c.
Illustrated by Stanley Wood and Harold Piffard
London C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. Henrietta Street 1901
Arno Press A New York Times Company New York--1975 Reprint Edition 1974 by Arno Press Inc.
Reprinted from a copy in The Library of the University of California, Riverside
A Honeymoon in Space
[Illustration: "_The Earth, the Earth--thank God, the Earth!_"]
Contents
PROLOGUE--The First Cruise of the _Astronef_
Chapter I.
Chapter II.
Chapter III.
Chapter IV.
Chapter V.
Chapter VI.
Chapter VII.
Chapter VIII.
Chapter IX.
Chapter X.
Chapter XI.
Chapter XII.
Chapter XIII.
Chapter XIV.
Chapter XV.
Chapter XVI.
Chapter XVII.
Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XIX.
Chapter XX.
Epilogue
List of Illustrations
"THE EARTH, THE EARTH--THANK GOD, THE EARTH!"
A HIDEOUS SHAPE ROSE OUT OF THE WATER BEHIND THEM
IT TOOK THE STRANGE-WINGED CRAFT AMIDSHIPS
SNOW PEAKS AND CLOUD SEAS
CAME FORWARD TO MEET THEM WITH BOTH HANDS OUTSTRETCHED
WHOLE MOUNTAIN RANGES OF GLOWING LAVA WERE HURLED UP MILES HIGH
WITHOUT ANY APPARENT EFFORT HE RAISED HER ABOUT FIVE FEET FROM THE FLOOR
THE HUGE PALELY LUMINOUS EYES LOOKED IN UPON THEM
PROLOGUE
THE FIRST CRUISE OF THE _ASTRONEF_
About eight o'clock on the morning of the 5th of November, 1900, those of the passengers and crew of the American liner _St. Louis_ who happened, whether from causes of duty or of their own pleasure, to be on deck, had a very strange--in fact a quite unprecedented experience.
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Honeymoon in Space by George Chetwynd Griffith
- 2: The officer took another long squint
- 3: A sliding door opened in the glass domed roof amidships
- 4: Baron Smeaton in the Peerage of England
- 5: So there was another ultimatum
- 6: I didn't understand that Miss Rennick ever had a fortune
- 7: Van Stuyler were carefully handed up
- 8: Van Stuyler was shaking in every muscle
- 9: Van Stuyler thought her looking
- 10: Van Stuyler looked at him in the silence of mental paralysis
- 11: Van Stuyler sipped her coffee in ostentatiously small sips
- 12: Talking somewhat rudely across him to Zaidie
- 13: Said Miss Zaidie a little stiffly
- 14: Van Stuyler turned round and said angrily Zaidie
- 15: You are on board the Astronef
- 16: And we'll go to the conning tower
- 17: Murgatroyd is in the engine room
- 18: Redgrave took up a pair of glasses
- 19: The Astronef stopped her descent instantly
- 20: Force exactly counteracts gravitation
- 21: Van Stuyler something to eat and drink
- 22: The Astronef had landed in front of the White House
- 23: Accepted Lord Redgrave in his stead
- 24: England in the person of Lord Redgrave
- 25: Redgrave took them down in pencil
- 26: To solve some of the hidden mysteries of Creation
- 27: Have you said goodbye to your native world
- 28: Just enough force to lift the jug a few inches
- 29: Then Redgrave came to her side
- 30: Roughly circular area of dazzling whiteness
- 31: And see more of the lighted disc
- 32: So we'll have our dejeuner here
- 33: Is that the way Englishmen start marriage in England
- 34: Ungainly body outside the Astronef in any of the worlds
- 35: Which was woven of a cunning compound of silk and asbestos
- 36: He pointed towards the Astronef
- 37: Redgrave stooped down and took hold of one of the bones
- 38: The Astronef was at once his home and his idol
- 39: And presently the Astronef changed her course
- 40: It had a nose and a mouth the nose
- 41: Said Zaidie somewhat inconsequently
- 42: And then he and Zaidie swept it with their telescopes
- 43: Like the square of the great Temple of Tycho
- 44: We are only a few hundred miles away from Deimos
- 45: And then we'll be off to Phobos
- 46: Opened the other and allowed it to fill with Martian air
- 47: Then Huygens which is to Mars what Europe
- 48: Said Redgrave rather seriously
- 49: And the ring narrowing round the still motionless Astronef
- 50: He sent another signal to Murgatroyd
- 51: Redgrave swung the wheel round
- 52: The Astronef sprang a thousand feet towards the zenith
- 53: As Zaidie at once christened it
- 54: Over which the Astronef was hanging
- 55: As he said this Redgrave went to the door
- 56: To the utter astonishment of both Redgrave and Zaidie
- 57: Redgrave interrupted almost roughly
- 58: Zaidie sprang backwards as he came towards her
- 59: Tightening his grip round her waist a little
- 60: When Zaidie was seated beside her own telescope again
- 61: And the Astronef began to descend
- 62: By eight she had entered the atmosphere of Venus
- 63: Going towards the conning tower
- 64: They are just like a thin mist
- 65: I wonder what sort of an animal they take the Astronef for
- 66: The flying figures which came hovering near to the Astronef
- 67: Speaking for the first time since the Astronef had landed
- 68: Zaidie put her hands behind her
- 69: Zaidie sang the sweet old song through from end to end
- 70: And half malicious little laugh from Zaidie
- 71: And then the Astronef passed through the cloud sea
- 72: As Lady Redgrave said afterwards to Mrs
- 73: We shall visit the satellites of course
- 74: They're all bigger than our moon
- 75: As they approached the orbit of Calisto
- 76: As the surface of Calisto revolved swiftly beneath them
- 77: While she went to get lunch ready
- 78: Concentrating themselves upon the hull of the Astronef
- 79: The Astronef remained stationary
- 80: Zaidie unhesitatingly held out hers
- 81: He held out his hand to Zaidie
- 82: They are even nicer than our dear bird folk on Venus
- 83: Between the daughter of Earth and the daughters of Ganymede
- 84: As Zaidie subsequently re christened Ganymede
- 85: Using the Astronef as their vehicle
- 86: And the Astronef was dropping swiftly
- 87: Leaving fathomless gulfs of fiery mist in their place
- 88: Force against the surface of Jupiter
- 89: Jupiter and his satellites dropped behind
- 90: And call Saturn a celestial spinning top
- 91: And Saturn exerted his full pull on us
- 92: The Astronef began to revolve slowly on its axis
- 93: As the Astronef dropped slowly through the thin cloud veil
- 94: While she was saying this Zaidie had gone to her telescope
- 95: Their means of locomotion consisted of huge fins
- 96: As he switched on the head searchlight
- 97: The Astronef leaped higher and higher
- 98: Redgrave stepped somewhat gingerly on to the deck
- 99: They found mountains for the first time on Saturn
- 100: While Redgrave smoked his cigar and Zaidie her cigarette
- 101: When he reached the engine room he said to Murgatroyd
- 102: Redgrave went back to the conning tower without replying
- 103: Then the fierce glare grew dimmer
- 104: Like that of the other asteroids
- 105: Above was the blazing orb of the Sun
- 106: Redgrave and Zaidie had gone into the conning tower
- 107: Zaidie knew only too well what this meant
- 108: With his right arm Redgrave drew Zaidie still closer to him
- 109: What else could it be if not the Astronef
- 110: Standing with Zaidie in the conning tower